30.08.2009.
Minister's interview to FoNet
CRISIS BLOCKS MODERNIZATION
The economic crisis and 26% less smaller military budget has impeded the process of modernization and has stopped the process of procuring new equipment and weapons, as Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac stated in an interview to FoNet agency adding that this government would last longer than expected delivering remarkable results.
The crisis boosts crime rate thus endangering the security of a country, which jointly with the financial crime in Serbia affects the military budget and the defense system as well. However, Serbia is not under any military threat.Objective circumstance is the rise of weapons demand which opens our potentials for arms export, however, the military will not benefit from this money.
As regards the reduction in public consumption and the number of civil servants, he said that MoD administration compared to other ministries ranked as the smallest, reminding that some 1000 men were made redundant last year alone
Reminding that he did not know anything of the government reconstruction and the reduction of the number of ministries, Sutanovac estimated “That the government could be smaller, yet this had to be agreed upon when it was formed, instead of raising this question now when we should fight the world economic crisis.
Reducing the number of ministries does not mean that the state will profit, as their effectiveness and not the number of ministries is what counts.
Each ministry should carry out the policy it advocates.
Answering the question about the security risks, he said that they still existed in the south of Serbia, “despite the fact that we say that the situation is stable in comparison to the previous years, the Ministry is still aware of the lower intensity terrorist acts.
"On the other hand, the whole region of western Macedonia, Eastern Kosovo and South West Serbia are linked and we do not have full control over this region, which gives criminals and terrorists an opportunity to move with ease from a region into a region.”
Kosovo still is one of the black holes of the region, where the crime rate is still very high, and such situation only endangers security in Europe which will affect predominantly the western Europe unless EULEX addresses the problem as it should.
"This is why have reiterated on several occasions that we were against this notion of reducing the number of KFOR troops, as this would also involve a serious analysisis of our and international forces.
The Minister said that he had not yet contacted the newly-appointed Secretary general of NATO Andres Frogo Rasmunsen, buit announced that he expected to establish contact as early as fall.
The decision to appoint Branko Milinkovic as ambassador of Serbia to NATO proved to be a great step forward in opening up to this organization and furthering cooperation within PfP.
Unless money is found for modernization, the military will find itself in a big problem, as the minister is aware that with money modernization will become much more easier.
